The disarmament of Palestinian camps in Lebanon is entering its second phase, “marking the most important step in decades toward ending the phenomenon of weapons outside the country,” UAE-based news site Al Ain News reported this week.
The disarmament is important and could help pave the way to disarming Hezbollah. It could also be a model for disarming Hamas in Gaza. Lebanon is now a test case for the region.
National News Agency, Lebanon’s official news agency, reported: “The process of handing over Palestinian weapons to the Lebanese Army has begun in the Rashidieh, Al-Bass, and Burj al-Shamali camps in Tyre. Seven trucks loaded with light weapons and B7 shells left the camp and entered the Second Intervention Regiment barracks in Shawakir.”
Rashidieh Camp is located south of Tyre in southern Lebanon. It was damaged in the 1982 war, and some of its residents were displaced in the past. Burj al-Shamali camp is three kilometers from Tyre and was established in 1948. El Buss camp also is south of Tyre and was built in 1939 for Armenian refugees.
“The competent Palestinian authorities in Lebanon handed over the second batch of PLO weapons located in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, namely the Rashidieh, Al-Bass, and Burj al-Shamali camps, to the Lebanese army as a trust, on Thursday,” the report quoted Palestinian Authority presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh as saying. “The handover process will be completed to the remaining camps successively.”
The agreement to disarm came after PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a joint statement with Lebanese President Gen. Joseph Aoun on May 21.
At the time, Abbas said the two sides had “affirmed their commitment to providing the human, social, and economic rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, ensuring a dignified life for them without compromising their right of return or affecting their national identity.”
Last Friday, Lebanese authorities began receiving shipments of weapons from Palestinian camps in Beirut, Al Ain reported.
“On August 7, the Lebanese Council of Ministers decided to restrict the possession of weapons to the state, and tasked the army with developing a plan to complete this within the current month and implement it before the end of 2025,” the report said.
Lebanon's army operated in Beirut
The next phase will now occur in Beirut. Beirut-based newspaper Al Akhbar, which is pro-Iranian, said one of its correspondents “reported that the army received six weapons trucks from the three refugee camps from the Fatah movement, loaded with heavy weapons including Grad rockets. The trucks entered the Second Intervention Regiment barracks in Shawakir, at the southern entrance to Tyre. For his part, the head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Ramez Dimashqieh, told Al Akhbar that the handover process will be completed tomorrow, Friday, in the Beirut camps.”
Pro-Iranian voices have condemned the disarming of the camps. Lebanese Member of Parliament Mohammad Raad, who backs Hezbollah, said the government’s decision “taken in early August was ‘a major mistake committed with premeditation,’ referring to the government’s assignment of the Lebanese Army to prepare a plan to disarm Hezbollah,” Al Akhbar reported Thursday. “He noted that this step ‘will disgrace the history of its proponents and those who applaud them.’”
“Our regions were targeted, our leaders were subjected to conspiracies, and there was collusion to weaken our role and divert us from our correct choices,” Raad was quoted as saying.
“Despite all attempts to spread frustration and despair, we say to our enemies: By God, you will never erase our memory,” he added.
This shows that Hezbollah will resist being disarmed.